The Dawning of the Marauders
by greatsong
Summary: Dawn takes the jump at the end of season 5, and finds herself far from home, at the door of a famous school in the heart of Scotland, twenty years ago.
1. Setting the Scottish Scene

"No!" Buffy screamed as Dawn swan dived off the platform. Tears streamed down her face. She had vowed to protect Dawn and failed. It was all her fault. If only… If only…there must've been something she could've done. Buffy collapsed in tears, her sobs tearing apart her lungs to match her heart. Willow, Tara, Xander, Giles and Spike came over, and they held her, in silence, watching the blue swirls of the portal disappearing into the ground.

It carried Dawn with it, taking her to some hell dimension, where she was unreachable, untouchable. Dead. Willow could almost hear the mournful violin solo playing in the background as the tears ran down her cheeks. She didn't know how long they stood there before they rose. Exhausted, Willow numbly watched Buffy tear the cross around her neck, the one Angel had given her, and leave it at the edge of the scaffolding as a final tribute to her six-month sister.

Dawn heard her sister's scream, the last thing she heard before the roaring of the portal drowned out everything else, filling all of her with the deep vibrating noise. All she could see was the electric blue of the inside of the portal, it was bright, and it blinded her. She seemed to fall for hours; she began to think that this was the hell dimension she was being sent back to before her back hit the ground, hard, and everything went dark. The portal disappeared into the bright, shining white of the full moon.

Dawn hauled herself weakly to her feet, and looked around her. She was on a huge lawn that stretched as far as she could see. It looked scarily like the one that Dracula had conjured up on his last visit to Sunnydale. A shiver ran down her spine as she remembered him. Clearing her thoughts she looked behind her. She was stood on the edge of a deep dark forest. Not good. Deep dark forests always contained something spooky and bad. She had had more than enough spooky and bad in her lifetime of six months for three normal life spans. As she thought this an eerie howl echoed through the forest, it the howl of a werewolf.

'Great!' Dawn thought, glancing down at her many cuts, plus the huge gouges in her hips. She quickly decided to face the unknown dangers of the Dracula-castle rather than stay out here as all you can eat werewolf buffet, ready sliced.

She started to run slowly towards the castle, as fast as the excruciating pain from her wounds would let her. It wasn't fast enough. She was only half way to the castle when it leapt out of the forest at her. She whirled, remembering Willow's research on her keyness. Some animals could sense it, and steered clear of her, especially cats. Maybe a werewolf was one of these. She stared the werewolf right in the eye, and it froze, she started to advance on it, and it backed away, unsure of what Dawn was, smelling fresh blood, but only seeing a swirl of green light.

Dam lunged at it, and the werewolf turned and ran, tail between it's legs, back into the forest. Exhausted Dawn staggered towards the castle before the werewolf picked up it's courage. As she reached the gravel path she fell forwards onto her face. Dawn hauled herself to her knees. She just managed to reach the door, and reached up for the knocker. She failed. As she fell down into the comforting black she managed to knock the door, she prayed to all Willow and Tara's goddesses that someone had heard, and then she slipped into unconsciousness.

Somebody had heard the faint knock of a stranger in the night, none other than the famous Albus Dumbledore, as dawn had had the amazing good luck of stumbling across Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Having seen a bright light on the lawn Dumbledore had come to investigate. He found a hunched up, bedraggled teenage girl, cowering at the door unconscious in a growing pool of her own blood, which spread as far as Albus could see in the dim light. Not wasting a moment longer Dumbledore magically lifted dawn's body, and marched her to the Hospital Wing.

Please review, I am still learning, so any tips or pointers, or criticisms are welcome.


	2. Wild horses dragged me

I feel thesefour walls closing in  
My face up against the glass  
I'm looking out... hmm  
Is this my life I'm wondering  
It happened so fast  
How do I turn this thing around  
Is this the bed I chose to make  
Its greener pastures I'm thinking about Wide open spaces far away

All I want is the wind in my hair  
To face the fear but, not feel scared

Wild horses I want to be like you  
Throwing caution to the wind  
I'll run free too  
Wish I could recklessly love, like I'm longing too  
Run with the wild horses, run with the wild horses!

I see the girl I wanna be  
Riding bare back, care free along the shore  
If only that someone was me  
Jumpin' head first headlong without a thought  
To act and damn the consequence  
I wish it could be that easy  
But fear surrounds me like a fence  
I wanna break freee ee yeah

All I want is the wind in my hair  
To face the fear but, not feel scared

Wild horses I want to be like you  
Throwing caution to the wind  
I'll run free too  
Wish I could recklessly love, like im longing too  
I wanna run with the wild horses, run with the wild horses!

Wild horses I want to be like you  
Throwing caution to the wind  
I'll run free too  
Wish I could recklessly love, like im longing too  
I wanna run with the wild horses, run with the wild horses!  
I wanna run with the wild horses

Dawn awoke to the sunlight creeping across the curtain around her bed. She rolled over onto her back, and then froze; a young, plump, friendly-looking woman in a nurse's uniform was sat there watching her.

"How are you dear?" she asked kindly

"F-fine." Dawn stammered, then, looked down at her scraped arms, there were only fading scar lines where they had been, she poked her hips, but she could feel no cuts where the gashes had been. She looked up, wide-eyed the woman.

"How long have I been asleep?" She asked.

"A day." The woman replied.

"One day?" Dawn asked, her eyes widening, she then muttered "Magic."

"That's right dearie." The woman said, it was only then that Dawn realised she had an English accent.

"Where am I?" Dawn asked

"Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry." The woman replied

"No." Dawn shook her head "What country, planet, dimension? Is this Hell?" The woman leaned back, and replied

"Scotland, Earth, umm…this one." She peered closely at Dawn,

"Are you sure you're ok?" she asked, genuinely worried.

"Fine." Dawn said, very fast, and looked around the room she was in. It looked like an old castle. "Is that boy meant to be awake?" she asked, pointing to the rooms other inhabitant. As she peered at him closer Dawn realised that it was the werewolf from last night, or whenever it was.

"Oh, thank you dear." The woman said, recognising, and respecting Dawns evasion technique.

"I am Ms Pomfrey, by the way." She said as she left.

"Dawn, Dawn Summers." Dawn said, laying back onto her pillows and looking up at the ceiling, striving to get some sense into her head. She knew she wasn't in a Hell dimension. She could've guessed that herself. Her wounds were healed. She wasn't dead. She was someplace else, but like, maybe the same as her old one. She was on her own in this strange place, but the locals so far had proved nice, mind, she had liked Glory at first, so that was nothing to judge by. Before Dawn had gotten any further the other occupant of the room, in the bed next to her interrupted.

"Hi, I'm Remus Lupin." He said, smiling kindly. Dawn realised that he was about her age.

"How old are you?" she asked, before she could stop herself, then clapped a hand around her mouth. He grinned at her, and Dawn could tell he was trying not to laugh.

"15" he replied. Dawn nodded awkwardly,

"I'll understand if you don't want to tell me, but, how did you get here?" He asked, a kind, understanding look on his face. Dawn felt inexplicably compelled to answer. She began to tell her story, tentatively at first, missing lots of things out, then her story started to pour out, and she told this strange boy everything from the day she found out the was the Key onwards. As she reached the bits about Buffy Dawn began to cry, and Remus took her into his lap, and held her close. When Dawn had finished she was surprised to find herself there, but he was holding her gently, comfortingly, like an old friend, and she wasn't bothered by it somehow.

"A werewolf attacked you?" Remus asked, a strangled look on his face, "Did it touch you"? Dawn remembered her realisation that he was the wolf from last night.

"No." She said reassuringly, "I wouldn't hold it against him if he did." And with that she launched into some choice Oz/Willow stories, and he settled down. Dawn stayed in Remus' lap for a long time after they had finished talking. Finally she gathered nerve enough to look up into his face. She froze as his amber eyes held her wide, ocean-blue ones. She felt an aching longing to be closer to him in her chest. She tipped her head backwards, so they faced each other. A person nearby cleared his throat. Dawn and Remus jumped into the air, and Dawn landed uncomfortably on the floor, having missed the chair on her way back down.

"I am very sorry to have interrupted, but I wish to speak to Miss Summers here." Dawn looked up to see a kindly, old face, with sharp blue eyes looking amusedly at her.

"Do you want to know why I'm here?" she asked, trying to brave herself up to repeat her exhausting tale.

"No thank you, Miss Summers, I already heard it. I did not mean to eavesdrop, but I came in when you were in mid-flow." Dawn turned beetroot as she realised just how much the old man had seen.

"What I wish to know," he continued, "Is what Miss Summers plans to do now, she is welcome here for a while, and as a student, if she wishes, as she has proved to have some magical aptitude."

"How do you know that Sir?" Remus asked, and Dawn realised that he must be a teacher, and an important one at that.

"She saw this castle as it was, when she arrived here, any Muggle would see an old ruin, without door knockers." The old man replied, then for Dawn's sake added "It has a spell on it." Dawn nodded.

"I would like to stay here, if possible, but I want to try to goo hoome."The last words came out blurred, as Dawn, much to her great shame burst into tears again. She didn't know how long she cried in Remus' lap, she heard the teacher slip out, and somewhere she cried herself to sleep, she awoke in her bed. Remus was nowhere in sight.

Thanks to all my reviewers, your advice has been taken to heart. I am afraid there will be no Dawn/Sirius relationship as yet, but everyone seems to be doing them. Please keep all reviews coming, I love them, they give me a bubbly feeling inside!


	3. Doo Wah Diddy

Sorry it took so long, school starting kind of messed everything up. Here is the next, hope you like it.

At seeing there was no Remus Dawn sat up with a start. Had she scared him off with her waterworks? Had she disgusted her only friend in this world? She started to climb out of bed.

"Easy, baby." Remus' voice came from behind her curtain. Cursing herself for her complete stupidity Dawn leant over and pulled away the curtain. Remus was sat in his bed, along with three other boys, one had messy, short black hair and blue eyes, the other had slicked back, longer black hair, and grey eyes. The last had mousy brown hair, and was very small and mousy. Seeing the question on Dawn's lips Remus smiled.

"These are my three best friends. James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew." He said, pointing at them each in turn.

"Hi." She said, with a shy grin.

"Hi." They all said back, with broad friendly grins, making Dawn feel much more comfy. She suddenly froze.

"Did you..?" She started to ask Remus, but he cut her off with a sleight shake of his head. She nodded at him.

"What?" Peter asked, and then either James or Sirius, she wasn't sure which yet elbowed him in the ribs.

They soon fell to chatting about ordinary things, and Dawn found that this world was very much like her own. They started on music and Dawn felt them drift off without her, they talked about the muggle charts, and the current #1 came up. Dawn listened with interest as they started to sing:

Hold me now  
It's hard for me to say I'm sorry  
I just want you to stay  
Hold me now  
I just really wanna say I'm sorry  
I could never let you go

She recognised the song. With a start it hit her, it was an old favourite of her mums. It was from 1982. Recognising it she joined in. They all stopped and looked at her.

"What?" she asked innocently. "Can't I know about music too?"

They started to talk more about recent hits, until someone mentioned stripes, an all time favourite movie of Dawns. It seemed the boys liked it too, and soon they were all singing:

_There she was right a-walkin' down the street,  
Singin', Do wah Diddy diddy dumm Diddy do  
Snappin' her fingers and shufflin' her feet,  
Singin', Do wah Diddy diddy Dumm Diddy do  
She looked good, LOOKED GOOD  
She looked fine, LOOKED FINE  
She looked good, she looked fine  
And I nearly lost my mind _

Before I knew it she was walkin' next to me.  
Singin', Do wah Diddy diddy Dumm Diddy do  
Holdin' my hand just as natural as can be,  
Singin', Do wah Diddy diddy Dumm Diddy do  
We walked on, WALKED ON  
To my door, MY DOOR  
We walked on to my door,  
Then we kissed a little more

Now we're together nearly every single day,  
Singin', Do wah Diddy diddy dumm Diddy do  
We're so happy and that how we're gonna stay,  
Singin', Do wah Diddy diddy dumm Diddy do  
I'm hers, I'M HERS  
She's mine, SHE'S MINE  
I'm hers, she's mine,  
Wedding bells are gonna chimeNow we're together nearly every single day  
Singin', Do wah Diddy diddy dumm Diddy do  
We're so happy and that how we're gonna stay  
Singin', Do wah Diddy diddy dumm Diddy do  
I'm hers, I'M HERS  
She's mine, SHE'S MINE  
I'm hers, she's mine,  
Wedding bells are gonna chime

Singin', Do wah Diddy diddy dumm Diddy do  
Do wah Diddy diddy Dumm Diddy do  
Do wah Diddy diddy Dumm Diddy do.

They all collapsed in giggles on Dawns bed, after marching around the infirmary. They looked up and saw the old man who seemed to hang out here a lot. The boys just smiled and waved at him, except Peter who squealed and turned bright red. Dawn looked at him, daring him to laugh or comment. He merely nodded his head at her and asked

"May I see Miss Summers in my office?" he asked, with a perfectly straight face. Dawn looked at the others, and they ushered her forwards. She stood up and followed him out.

Dawn followed the man down a stone, castle-like corridor. They went through a secret passage behind a gargoyle, and up a spiral escalator, into a large building, with what looked like moving pictures all around the walls, and with loads of sciency-looking things around the walls.

"Miss Summers." The man pulled dawn out of her ogling. "I have brought you here to discuss your future, please take a seat."

Thanks for all reviews, please keep them coming, this was just a fill-in chapter, more excitement next time I promise. Sorry for the typo last time.


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